Continuous forms sheet separator
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorLeonard Dean Witcher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus to separate multiple sheet feeds from fan-fold paper being moved from an input paper stack upwardly to a print station. The separator apparatus includes a separator member, and flexible members support the separator member for swinging movement in the paper path in a position to bear against the paper as it moves from the input paper stack. The separator member has a mass so that it may selectively move or be moved by the paper and the resultant frictional engagement and impact on the paper web causes multiple sheet feeds to be separated from the web near the input paper stack.
Claims1
In a paper driving system of the type wherein paper is fed along a path from an input stack of fan-folded paper initially in an upward direction to a printing station, the combination comprising:
- a guiding and supporting member spaced upwardly from said input stack along said path,
- an elongated separator member,
- a pair of flexible elongated support members each comprising bead chains fixed at one end to opposed lateral sides of said guiding and support member and fixed at the other end to opposed ends of said elongated separator member to support said separator member adjacent said fan-folded paper above said input stack, said separator member having a mass sufficiently small that the separator member may be moved by the web and sufficiently large that the separator member may follow its natural tendency to swing so that the resultant reaction causes multiple sheet feeds of said web from said input stack to be separated from the web being fed upwardly toward said printing station.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.